


Nobody Needs To Know

by Ashrocksit08



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-20 07:38:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14256123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashrocksit08/pseuds/Ashrocksit08
Summary: Everyone just kind of assumed they were having sex. Neither girl could blame them for the conclusion; So obviously, a coupling of these two sexy individuals had to mean they were taking full advantage of their combined sexiness with well… sex. Considering how touchy the two ladies were when they were around one another didn’t make it a hard conclusion to jump to, which is probably why their sex life had become a topic of discussion the night of Jughead’s birthday party.or...A game of never have I ever opens a can of worms for Cheryl and Toni.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First, I don't know where this came from so there's that. Secondly, I feel like the summary is low key misleading maybe? Idk my intention for now is to tackle two things: the two of them now doing the dew yet and and an ex Toni doesn't like to talk about. I doubt this is gonna be anywhere near as long as my last multi chapter fic, but we'll see where this goes. 
> 
> And for anyone who likes visuals, in my head Gigi looks like Sofia Black D'elia so there you go. Let me know how you like this maybe? Everything is still kind of forming in my head about it right now.

Everyone just kind of assumed they were having sex. Neither girl could blame them for the conclusion; Cheryl Blossom, aka Cheryl Bombshell exuded sex in almost every movement she made no matter how minute -- from a flick of her hair to crossing her legs when she sat. She was the kind of girl who if life were a teen movie from the 90’s then every room Cheryl entered she would do so in slow motion, and none of that slow motion descending the stairs ‘kiss me’ music, we’re talking parting hallways like the red sea, something with bass and a dope beat music. She’d cultivated a particular image over her 17 years of life and a certain degree of sex appeal was part of that, there was no denying it because power and control were things Cheryl coveted, and what is more powerful than sex? 

As far as Toni, she was sexy, like Cheryl, there was no denying that, but the sexiness she exuded was the complete opposite of her girlfriends -- it was effortless. There was no careful cultivation of the Toni Topaz persona, she didn’t dress to kill (if she wanted to kill she’d do it with her bare hands, thank you very much) but rather to please herself, and her sexiness oozed from that unmistakable air of self confidence that radiated off of her. When people saw Toni Topaz, they held onto their significant others a little tighter, her swagger (even if she loathed the word) was undeniable and naturally compelling. 

So obviously, a coupling of these two sexy individuals had to mean they were taking full advantage of their combined sexiness with well… sex. Considering how touchy the two ladies were when they were around one another didn’t make it a hard conclusion to jump to, which is probably why their sex life had become a topic of discussion the night of Jughead’s birthday party.

Jughead being Jughead of course didn’t want anything big, so it was less of a party and more of a get together with the Serpents and the few northsiders Jug considered his friends. So there they were, all at the very least on their 4th drink with Cheryl on Toni’s lap, head on her girlfriend’s shoulder while her hand not holding her drink played with the ends of her hair lovingly. 

“Okay, Fangs, your turn. Never have I ever done it with someone in this bar.” The Serpent said to and answered himself then proudly drank along with Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Toni who tried to take hers clandestinely despite there being no real way to do so. Noticeably absent from sipping her drink was Cheryl, who sat up straight the moment she realized her girlfriend’s bottle was moving towards her lips. 

“Nuh-uh, Cherry. You know the rules, you gotta drink.” Sweet Pea said, always the eagle eyed one when games like these were played. 

“I am well aware the rules, Percy.” Cheryl was ticked, and her use of Sweet Pea’s real name (which had been revealed in an earlier game of truth or dare) along with the pointed tone in which she used it was a clear indication of that. “Which is why I didn’t drink.” 

“Wait a minute… are you saying you and Toni have never…” Veronica started to put two and two together as did the collective who were to be witness to what was sure to be a shit show, Betty picking up where Veronica left off, “But Toni drank...” The blonde’s eyes went to her boyfriend’s for confirmation of her suspicion, but received the opposite in the form of Jughead with two hands up in the defensive pose, “No. There wasn’t even any touching below the belt. Some under the shirt over the bra s--” Archie, usually the most clueless of them even knew better and stopped his friend, “Jug. Dude, just no…” 

“This is why I love this game.” Kevin sat forward, waiting for what would happen next, heads were going to roll, they had to, “So who?” He asked, literally on the edge of his seat. “Let me guess, it’s Fangs, isn’t it?” 

“I am in enough trouble and we’ve never gone there. Nope, not me. And Sweets is a stickler about not dipping his pen in the company ink so don’t bother going there either.” That pretty much eliminated anyone it could be in their direct group of friends, but while Kevin was trying to solve the mystery of who Toni had slept with, Veronica was stuck on Cheryl and Toni not having done the deed yet, “How have you no--” 

“Yeah, this game is over.” Toni announced and Cheryl removed herself from the shorter girl’s lap. “Perfect. I need the powder room. If you all would excuse me…” Cheryl’s legs made long, quick strides away from the group, her rod straight posture indicating that everything wasn’t okay the way the false smile she had plastered on her face would have implied and everyone could see that, even under the influence.

“Thanks, Fangs.” Toni gritted her teeth, obviously beyond annoyed but just in case he didn’t get the message, she slugged his arm for good measure, “Ow, fuck, Toni. I didn’t know she didn’t know about Gigi!” 

“Wait, Gigi?! As in…” Jughead pointed to the nearby pool table where 4 serpents were playing pool, one of them being the aforementioned Gigi, an olive skinned, dark haired girl with wavy hair down to just past her shoulders, ripped jeans and of course the standard issue Serpent leather jacket over a halter top. From what Jughead understood she was older than them, having graduated the year before and was cool with all of them, though if he were to think back he’d realize whenever Gigi was around Toni wasn’t. 

“Yeah, we had a thing, it wasn’t a big deal.” Toni lied and Sweet Pea scoffed, “They dated for over a year.” 

“Why does that even matter?” Toni tapped impatiently on her beer bottle, then remembered there was beer in it and drank all of it, in one prolonged and fantastic gulp. 

“Toni, we’re sorry. It’s not our business, and I’m sure Fangs didn’t mean to stir anything up.” She offered with compassionate eyes, “Do you want me to go check on Cheryl?”

“No, I’ve got it. Just remind me never to play drinking games with any of you ever again.” Toni got up to face the music, not really knowing what genre to anticipate in the first place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I got a lot of responses for the first chapter, so thanks for that. So this fic is turning into it's own thing, so we'll see how it goes because I didn't have this in mind for chapter 2 at all, and yet, this is what came out. Let me know what you guys think.

“Knock knock.” Toni pushed open the door of the ladies room and walked in, but stopped a few feet away from Cheryl. If Cheryl had faltered while re-applying her make-up, it was undetectable to the Serpent. The redhead seemed unshaken and unbothered, which Toni knew enough about her girlfriend by now to know that the exact opposite was true. For as long as she’d known the taller girl, Cheryl had regarded her in a few different ways, ranging from disgust to outrage, but never disregard or indifference until right then. Nothing about the energy the redhead was giving off to her felt good, and combined with the silence between them (aside from the muffled sound of music) it was damn near unbearable so Toni tried again, “Are you alright? Do you want to talk?” 

 

Cheryl looked at Toni through the reflection of the mirror and still said nothing as she capped her lipstick, then she spoke, slow and precise, “You want to talk? So you are capable of doing that? If only we’d _talked_ before I entered a space where I have to breathe the same air as someone who’s been inside you.” Cheryl’s words were biting and pointed, the last bit practically laced with venom as she finally turned around to face Toni. 

The last thing Toni wanted to do was talk about Gigi, who was her ex for a reason so she opted to get defensive, which she knew wasn’t the answer to a Cheryl who already had put up her own defenses. If she were sober, maybe Toni would have had the capacity to make a smarter move, but she wasn’t. What she was prepared to do was deflect for as long as she could, even if only for a few moments, “Are you really upset with me right now? For what? The crime of having a past with someone else before I met you? Be pissed at Fangs for stirring this shit up, or even Jones for being born today, I don’t care, but you can’t be mad at me, not about that.” 

They’d never had a fight before, so Toni didn’t know from experience what to expect, but she thought it would be something along the lines of Cheryl making a huge scene worthy of the most dramatic of teen soap operas, but, instead before her eyes she saw Cheryl’s defenses come down, and behind them the unsure girl whose feelings she’d clearly hurt. 

Cheryl’s voice was small, so small that Toni wished she would have yelled at her or something, “I guess I just didn’t think you kept things from me.” 

Toni sighed and chanced a step closer to pick up Cheryl’s hand, “Babe, you don’t know everything about me. We’ve been dating for what? Two months? Two amazing months, but nobody can know everything there is to know in that time.” The Serpent offered Cheryl while she ran her thumb over the back of a pale hand. 

“I know that, Toni. I’m not claiming to know everything about you, but I was so excited to spend as long as you’d have me finding out. Suddenly there’s this person who you want to keep behind this locked door. I know you’ve been with people, I’ve been with people, but…” Cheryl was trying because going into this she knew relationships were work, and Cheryl had always been willing to work, the trouble was finding someone willing to work for her. Then she met Toni, and she really liked Toni and thought Toni really liked her, but all it took was some stupid party game to get her to start second guessing things, “...All I know is the sex thing, that sucks but at least we were staring down the barrel of that gun together. The ex thing? I’m staring down that one alone, and alone was never something I saw myself being with you in the picture.” 

“Cher, I’m sorry. She’s not something I like to talk about.” Toni started and Cheryl’s eyes closed as she braced herself again for that familiar devastation of not being enough to make a real effort for. Logic would tell her that had never been Toni’s M.O. but logic wasn’t in the driver’s seat at the moment. 

Then she felt the hand still holding hers squeeze, “But I will. Just not tonight, please.” Toni told her, maneuvering her head to force her girlfriend to look at her and know she meant it, that she was making a promise.

Cheryl hadn’t seen the ‘but’ coming and though she wanted to know whatever there needed to be known about this girl right at that moment, she knew it wouldn’t be fair to force Toni to open up to her, so she nodded, “Fine. But I’m all partied out so I’m going to get a Lyft and go home.” 

“Are we okay?” Toni asked, not really feeling that they were, even if they were better off than a few moments ago. 

“We’ll talk tomorrow.” Cheryl moved in and kissed Toni’s cheek then moved past her and out of the bathroom.   
________________________________________________________________________________

 

“I told you ladies, smoothies were just what we needed after the especially hellish practice Cheryl put us through today.” Veronica declared as she sat in a booth with Cheryl and Betty after she took a long, slow sip from her cucumber mint strawberry smoothie. 

“You might not have been 100% off base, but don’t think this is going to save you from the same fate tomorrow. I’ve seen marsupials with better form than some of the squad. If one of us looks like trash we all do, and I’m nobody’s trash ” Cheryl warned despite her primary attention being on her phone. 

“So I take it everything hasn’t quite gotten smoothed out with you and Toni.” V probed, figuring the real reason the Vixens captain was being such a hard ass had little to do with squad performance. Cheryl cut her eyes at the Latina beauty for a beat before her attention went back to her phone, “I’m not sure I know what you’re referring to.” Cheryl brushed off cooly, accentuating how unbothered she was with an audible slurp sound effect from her straw. 

Betty and Veronica exchanged looks, a silent conversation passing between the two with Betty not keen on broaching the subject, and Veronica all about it. 

“Oh come on, at least give us your full attention when you lie to us. What are you looking at anyway so intently?” Veronica asked while she took Cheryl’s phone to see what had the redhead’s primary attention, “Wait a minute, isn’t this…?” She tilted the phone so Betty could see and shifted slightly to keep it out of Cheryl’s reach when the Vixen’s captain grabbed for it. 

“Gigi.” Betty supplied, “You’re stalking her instagram?” The blonde added, obviously disapproving of the action. 

“Cousin Betty, does Sun Tzu not stress the importance of knowing your enemy?” Cheryl said simply and reached over for her phone again, this time securing it, and setting it on the table. 

“Yeah, but you’re citing ‘The Art of War’ when you’re not actually in one.” Betty pointed out, but Cheryl had to disagree, “Aren’t I, though? You remember when Toni came over the day after Hobo Styles’ party? Well we had a conversation where she told me all about Gigi, who from social media I’ve learned goes to college in Austin, and yet she’s decided to spend her summer break here.” 

“No…” Veronica commented, sounding thoroughly scandalized, much to Betty’s confusion. 

“Yes!” Cheryl re-affirmed, nodding her head. 

“Cheryl might be on to something here, Betts. Think about it: You’ve lived here your entire life, then you finally get away and spend a year living life in a real city. One of the only reasons a person would want to come back here is if they were missing something or someone here.” Veronica directed her words to Cheryl next, needing more insight now that she was on a similar wavelength as Cheryl, “How serious were things with them?” 

Cheryl had a sharp intake of breath, almost as if she had to brace herself for her own words, “Let’s just say very. Toni’s first love and first time.” 

“Ouch.” Veronica visibly winced. 

“I still think you’re worried over nothing. I mean come on, we all know that Toni adores the ground you walk on.” Betty appealed to her two friends, Cheryl especially with reason. 

“It isn’t Toni I’m worried about, dear cousin.” Cheryl started, “I mean would she be insane to do the unthinkable? Obviously. But this girl was Toni’s first in two major areas, neither of which are easy to get over from what I hear, and they didn’t exactly leave things on the best terms so--” 

“--So we need a recon mission. We’ve got to know what she’s plotting.” Veronica jumped in. 

“No. Who says she’s plotting anything? So she came home for the summer, big deal. It’s not a crime.” Betty replied only to receive a “Yes!” from both Cheryl and Veronica in unison, then Veronica tried to persuade Betty to see what she saw as reason a bit more, “If she’s just here to be cool for the summer then we’ll see that and Cheryl can rest easy and let her relationship flourish; no harm no foul.

Cheryl could honestly say she loved Betty Cooper, and since moving in with her and Alice, she’d grown to consider the three Cooper women (Polly included) real family in the sense in which she’d always wanted the word to have meaning, but sometimes she was glad that Veronica was there to co-sign -- at least she knew she wasn’t overreacting. 

Both Cheryl and Veronica pouted and gave Betty puppy dog eyes which broke down the blue eyed girl’s defenses quick, and she groaned as she acquiesced, “Fine. But only so you can realize how ridiculous you’re actually being.” 

“Great.” Cheryl beamed, “Then it’s settled: Operation ‘keep your friends close…’ is on.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels like forever since I've been able to sit down and write. The only reason I got to write this is because I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. I think I know already how I want the next chapter to go down, with a flashback of sorts between Toni and Gigi so we can see why she's effected so much by this ex. Anyway, thanks for all of the feedback like always, I love hearing from the fandom. So here's chapter 3! 
> 
> -Ash

So the plan wasn’t perfect. Really, there was probably never going to be an instance in which the plan was great, because the reason for the plan wasn’t a good one. But Cheryl couldn’t help it, she had to know. Even when it was just she and Toni alone together, in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but think about how fleeting all of it could be if there was someone who had Toni’s heart still and could take her away if she decided she wanted the Serpent back. And why wouldn’t she? Toni was amazing, beyond, and if she didn’t hate Gigi’s guts on principal she’d understand wanting to fix a mistake she’d made, because letting Toni Topaz go could only ever be considered a mistake. 

Cheryl, Betty, and Veronica all entered the Whyte Wyrm, where they knew Gigi was hanging out thanks to geotagging, and thanks to Betty’s known status as Jughead’s girl, there were no issues about their being there. 

“Do you see her?” Cheryl asked, trying to subtly look around, Shades still on despite being inside. 

“3 o’clock.” Veronica whispered, “...and she’s on the move. Looks like she’s heading to the bar.” 

“Betts you’re up.” Cheryl told her.

“Ugh, fine.” Betty acquiesced and got up, heading over to the bar and she stood next to Gigi.

“How about a adios motherfucker?” Gigi ordered, leaning half her body over the bar. Betty, seeing an in for conversation leaned her elbows on the bar too and made an attempt, “Interesting name for a drink.” 

Gigi looked over, brown eyes meeting blue and Betty could tell she was trying to place her, “Sorry, I’m Betty. Ju--” 

“Jughead’s woman.” Gigi finished for the blonde, recognition registering on her face, “Is he here?” She asked while she took a quick scan around the bar, and if Betty didn’t know any better she would have thought that she seemed almost hopeful that he was. 

“Oh no, he’s not. I’m actually here with some friends -- Veronica and Cheryl. Um Ronnie just broke up with her guy so we’re kind of doing a girl’s day thing, and this is the only place we know for sure we won’t get carded so…” Betty explained, actually proud of herself for the lies that came out of her mouth, which to her sounded super plausible. 

Gigi nodded, and the bartender brought Gigi her drink then asked what Betty wanted, “Um...that looks good. I’ll just take three of those.” The blonde answered and Gigi smirked. 

“You might want to be careful, they can knock you on your ass.” The older Serpent warned in a friendly tone and Betty nodded, “Noted. Hey. You wouldn’t want to come hang out a little bit, would you? We’re just over there.” Betty offered, hoping that she’d take the bait. Gigi ran a hand through her hair as she contemplated Betty’s offer and decided once Betts got her drinks, “This round is on me. If I’m crashing your friend day, might as well try to make a good impression, right?” She smiled, and so far Betty did not see this girl as conniving or sinister. Actually, she was kind of nice.

“Thanks,” The blonde gave her a friendly smile and grabbed two of the drinks, Gigi taking the last one since she had a free hand. Betty led the two of them back to the table where Cheryl and Veronica were waiting.   
“Cousin Betty, you found a friend.” Cheryl said, making no effort to hide the fact that she was sizing Gigi up behind her sunglasses. 

“Uh-yeah. Guys, this is Gigi. A friend of Jug’s and Gigi this is my best friend Veronica and--”

“--Cheryl Blossom. Aka Cheryl Bombshell: Captain of the Rosewood high River Vixens, 72,000 followers on Instagram and counting, and heiress to Blossom maple farms.” Cheryl spat out her achievements like she was Daenerys fucking Targaryen.

“Wow okay. I’m none of that, but I bought drinks, since I’m crashing your girls day or whatever.” 

“That was nice of you.” Ronnie said as she took the offered drink. After taking a sip, the dark haired girl moaned in approval, “Mmm, what is this?” She asked, already given the instruction to be the femme fatale of the day. In Cheryl’s words, if she turned Veronica down then she had to be caught up on someone. 

“It’s called an adios motherfucker. From what I can tell it’s kind of one of those drinks that you discover in college and play all the way out, then years later you wonder how you drank that crap. But it gets you fucked up so it meets all of my requirements in the present.” Gigi said easily, never one to be intimidated by engaging in conversation with new people. 

“It’s very...blue.” Cheryl sipped on the drink and despite it being on the strong side, she made sure her face remained unchanged. “And it’s like diabetes in a cup. Lovely.” 

“What she meant is thank you.” Betty interjected. Even though Gigi seemed cool and collected, she didn’t neglect the fact that she was a Serpent and the blonde didn’t want to find out if she had a temper. 

“If it’s too much for you, Ariel. A red headed slut looks like it’ll be more your speed.” Gigi sat back with a raised eyebrow, staring Cheryl down, her expression clear that she was daring the younger girl to fire back. The way she saw it, if she was going to be taking shots at her, then she could give them back.

Betty and Veronica were shook, neither girl quite knowing what to do, or more pressing, what Cheryl might do. It was obvious that Gigi was no idiot and could see as plain as they could that Cheryl was being kind of a bitch towards her so before anything else was said, Ronnie jumped in and attempted to change the subject. “So, you mentioned college? What school?”

“UT Austin. I’m majoring in ecology, evolution, and behavior.” Gigi told Ronnie, who again turned up the flirt factor. “Impressive. What does your boyfriend major in? Or girlfriend?” 

This time, Gigi’s eyebrow elevated in Veronica’s direction and her eyes moved to the hand that the dark haired girl rested just so on her forearm, then back to the almost innocent looking face of the raven haired would be seductress, “I don’t have either of those right now.” 

“So you’re single. Anyone you have your eye on?” She practically purred before she sipped her drink again. 

Gigi didn’t miss the way both Cheryl and Betty seemed to lean in closer as if anticipating her answer, and the vibe was getting too weird for her, “Something like that.”

“There’s no guarantee this person has their eye on you. In fact, it’s likely they don’t. Statistically speaking. They are not.” Cheryl said, her voice saccharine sweet, but behind her sunglasses, her eyes were burning holes into Gigi who had just about enough of the River Vixen, “I’m sorry. Do you have a problem with me?”

“I have a problem with people encroaching on what’s mine. So you just showing up here? Yeah...bit of a problem for me.” Of course, Cheryl’s words had a deeper meaning that she was convinced the older girl knew.

“Betty invited me over, but you know what? I’ll be glad to walk away.” Gigi stood up, and Cheryl sat up straighter, not putting it past the girl to attack her and if that happened she didn’t want to be caught off guard. “Just remember where you are, princess. This is snake country. I have a whole lot more friends in here than you do.” 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Gatherings usually meant something really good or really bad. This time, to the joy of Toni’s sanity, it was the latter and not the former. FP wanted to organize a block party, mostly for the little kids in the neighborhood to have some fun since the local pool was out of commission and it didn’t seem like any of the powers that be wanted to do anything about it, so like always, the Serpents stepped up to make something happen. Toni took it one step further and volunteered to figure out what needed to be done to get the pool in working condition, sort of like a phase two of FP’s plan, which earned her a look from FP that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than what it was -- pride and a couple of passing ‘good jobs’ from some of the older Serpents. 

Once the meeting was over, some Serpents elected to stick around, but Toni had plans to go and take some photos, and as she was packing up to do that, she heard an uncomfortably familiar voice, smooth as smoke wafting upwards out of a joint, “Check you out, Ant. I remember when you were too meek to say much of anything out loud and now look at you, throwing out ideas, not shying away from the spotlight.” Gigi said as she took the seat across from Toni, who got up, having sped up her packing as soon as Gigi’s first syllable was uttered. 

“I’m not the same girl, people change. Imagine that.” Toni said, her voice flat, not wanting to give the older girl the satisfaction of knowing she affected her in any way. Especially when her old nickname was uttered and she could swear she felt her heart clench.

“I see that. I like the hair. And the wardrobe.” Gigi continued when Toni turned around and started to walk away, “You know you don’t have to run away every time I come around.”

Toni stopped in her tracks, and turned slowly, her eyes turning into dangerous slits. Just because she didn’t want Gigi to _see_ that she got a rise out of her, doesn’t meant that she didn’t, because she did, and Toni had stayed away to avoid this. As far as she concerned, she and Gigi were over the moment the girl sold her a dream and left her with the reality that it would never be happening, that she, in Gigi’s eyes wasn’t good enough to realize that dream with. So she walked back over to the table and spoke slowly so Gigi knew she meant it. “I don’t run away from anyone Gigi. Most of all you. I just don’t want to be around you. Besides, running is more your thing than mine.” 

Gigi clicked her tongue, she’d been watching Toni from a far, unable to help the fact that she was curious about what her ex was up to. Toni wouldn’t believe her in a million years, too lost in her anger, but she did love this girl. Does. Present tense. “You’re still so cute when you’re angry.” Gigi teased, and she wasn’t an idiot, she knew that would piss Toni off more, but the words came out anyway.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Toni practically growled out, and Gigi could tell by the way she gripped her backpack strap that Toni would try to make her escape again, so she said something she knew would keep her ex there, “I met your girlfriend.” Gigi’s lips curved into a satisfying smirk seeing the surprise register on Toni’s face in one moment, and the Serpent try to hide it in the next. “The redhead who was all over you at Jughead’s thing, right? Cheryl Blossom.” 

“What, are you stalking people now? Stay away from her, Gigi.” Toni demanded. 

“You should be telling her to stay away from me. She and her friends came here Saturday and invited me over. All things considered, I’d have to guess she knew who I was so I’m pretty sure this stalking thing is the other way around.” 

“What?” Toni was confused, but could she really be all that surprised? Probably not, for as long as she’d known Cheryl, she’d never rolled over on anything, so why would this be different? Plus she knew Gigi wasn’t bullshiting, considering Saturday was when Cheryl had been sketch about ‘inner circle vixens business’. Which means she lied. 

Gigi just shrugged, “I don’t know if she was trying to intimidate or give me the third degree, her friends were asking a lot of questions. I would have told her I knew who she was, but I didn’t want to embarass her, she was doing a pretty good job of that on her own. She doesn’t really seem like your type, Ant. She’s like the official stereotype of a northside bimbo.” 

“Stop. Let’s get something straight: I don’t care what Cheryl said or did to you, if you call her a bimbo or anything outside of her goddamn name again you’ll deal with the consequences that come along with doing something as stupid as talking bad about my girl.” Toni told Gigi but she refrained from getting in the girl’s face just yet, knowing that if it was seen by enough Serpents, Gigi might register it as a direct threat and something she couldn’t step down from among so many of their peers as it would make her look weak. 

The older girl’s mind couldn’t have been farther from that line of thinking at the moment thought. Gigi’s normally cool demeanor cracked seeing the intensity behind Toni’s eyes and the stance the girl took, “You’re serious about her?” Her voice made it sound half like a realization of sorts, and half like an actual question. 

“I’m serious about what I said.” Toni didn’t think Gigi had any right to know who or what she was serious about except that. 

The older girl didn’t actually come back home to cause problems, in fact, she came back to do the opposite. So for Toni, she dropped her cool exterior for a moment, and hoped the younger girl could see past the vitriol she had for her and know she was being sincere, “Ant, I just want us to be alright again.” 

“Toni. My name is Toni, not Ant.” She corrected, not hiding the annoyance in her voice, was she really trying to pull a puppy dog act on her right now with soft eyes and an even softer voice? Toni promised herself she’d never fall for that again, “And you can’t always get what you want, Gigi. You taught me that.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's late and I don't have a whole lot of words to say because I'm legit going to fall asleep within the next 10 minutes.   
> Enjoy this chapter. For what it's worth, I proofread it, but probably did a terrible job because it's 4am. Whoops.   
> -Ash

“Oh, TT, I’m glad you’re here. I was looking for that black crop top you let me borrow last week. I just bought the absolute most perfect skirt to wear with it, you’re going to love---what’s wrong?” The redhead made her way towards Toni, meeting her halfway in the middle of the room, then snaked her arms around the shorter girl’s shoulders like she always did. Unlike always though, Cheryl didn’t find the warm brown pools that she’d happily drown in, but a cold stare that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed the instant Toni was in the room. “What’s wrong?” She asked, and her eyebrows knit in concern for Toni and her mood. 

“I don’t know Cher, you tell me. Because something has to be wrong for you to go tracking down my ex.” Toni barely raised her voice, but her tone was unmistakably accusatory.

“Oh. That.” Cheryl let the words fall out of her mouth just like her arms fell from Toni’s shoulders, partly because she didn’t have anything to say and partly because she didn’t want to have this conversation. Toni made it pretty clear that she had no desire to speak to Gigi, and yet she had to have done just that in order to find out about her recon trip with Veronica and Betty, “I thought you wanted to keep your distance. You’re speaking now?” 

Toni would be impressed if she wasn’t so thoroughly annoyed, was Cheryl trying to turn this around on her somehow? Or was she just really missing the point? “What were you thinking Cheryl? What did you want to accomplish?” 

“I needed to know…” Cheryl admitted. 

“Needed to know what?” 

“If she was still in love with you, if she wants you back.” 

___________________________________________________________________________________

_This is her, the girl I was telling you about, Toni.” A 15 year old Sweet Pea walked up to three of his friends with Toni Topaz, who was a year younger. The three Serpents -- Jarrah, Wally, and Gigi pushed themselves off of the old car in the junkyard they’d been lounging on, drinking beer and Wally tossed a beer Sweet Pea’s way. “You really Tommy T.’s granddaughter?” Jarrah asked Toni while Gigi circled her slowly, and sized her up. You’re tiny...like an Ant.” The older girl mused out loud. They were trying to intimidate her, Toni wasn’t an idiot, she knew that, and while she wasn’t really (intimidated, that is), she was never quite able to come off as that strong of a presence, usually labelled as shy and quiet. “Yeah, I am.” She answered, and made a conscious effort to not speak too softly, but failed on that account. When Gigi lapped her the first time, she and Toni made eye contact and the older girl smirked when Toni broke it. It was then that she noticed that Gigi had beautiful dark brown eyes that she found herself wishing she had the nerve to still be looking into._

_“And you want to be a Serpent now?” Gigi asked, and Toni nodded._

_“Why?” Wally asked immediately after._

_Sweet Pea had been held back, something that not only pissed him off, but embarrassed him; two things that weren’t that great of a combination for a kid with the kind of temper he had. In fact, his temper (and the almost impressive amount of suspensions he’d gotten because of it) was a big factor in why he’d failed. It was rough going in the beginning for him; every time someone would mention that he had been held back, he’d snap almost instantly, and then one day little Toni Topaz piped up for him. At lunch that day they’d gotten to talking after Sweet Pea thanked her for the gesture, and they’d been tight ever since. Their dynamic worked -- Toni was smart as hell and would help Sweets with his homework, and it turned out she was pretty good at getting him to calm down, often repeating the phrase ‘water off a duck’s back’ to him, which he didn’t 100% know what that meant, but it was weirdly zen as fuck for him and usually worked. Sweet Pea protected Toni from kids who would try and start shit with her, and was constantly singing her praises, pointing out her good qualities and tried to help her build up her self-esteem because he thought it was borderline criminal the way she didn’t think much of herself._

_He’d never had guessed that Toni was the granddaughter of a Serpent O.G, let alone one of the coolest in Sweets’ humble opinion. Still, he’d never pressured her to join the gang, it was only a few months after both her folks died that Toni started bringing up how she wanted to maybe become a Serpent._

_It made the gang member sort of anxious that he couldn’t stop the third degree she was receiving, knowing it was only the beginning of the shit she’d have to endure on her own if she stayed on the path and went through the trials._

_As if she had some sort of anxiety detector on Sweet Pea, Toni looked at him and gave him a small smile and mouthed ‘its okay’ to him’ before answering the question asked of her, her head held a little higher now, “I didn’t see much of my grandfather growing up, my parents didn’t want anything to do with the Serpents and didn’t want me having anything to do with them. Now they’re gone and this, you guys are part of my family’s legacy. A part that I want to know. He’s told me stories about why he and his friends started the Serpents and honestly it makes me proud. But I don’t want to wear that pride without having earned it just like you guys have.”_

_“Well damn, she speaks. Oh, speak again, bright angel.” Gigi smirked again, and when she held Toni’s gaze this time, the flip the younger girls stomach did was unmistakable._

_“I’m impressed.” Gigi decided. “I like her.”_

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Un-fucking-believable.” Toni didn’t pace the room, but she did put some distance between herself and Cheryl, opting to lean her weight against the wall nearest Cheryl’s closet. “You’re spiraling down a rabbit hole with this. Just stop it, Cheryl. Not only did you lie to me, but you went behind my back and now what? You don’t believe me. I told you I could never go back to her, I made it clear she was my past. You couldn’t just take my word for it?” 

Cheryl’s lip quivered slightly, already, they were in the midsts of their second fight and it was once again the subject of the first, which made Cheryl more nervous about how this fight would end, afraid it would pretty much be the opposite of the resolution of the last one, “I want to, TT, I really do. But your actions and your words don’t add up. I’m not calling you a liar. I think maybe you don’t realize it, that you may still have those feelings for her because she hurt you so badly. I’m worried about what’s left when you get past it. Who wouldn’t want things to work out with their first love?” 

________________________________________________________________________________

_“I would ask you if you’re nervous, but it seems like such a stupid question considering how obvious the answer is.” Gigi asked Toni as she entered the small back room of the Whyte Wyrm._

_“I just don’t get it. This is hands down the most sexist and archaic tradition I’ve ever experienced in real life, even more than junior prom.” Toni crossed her arms, very much so nervous about the dance she’d have to perform in about 15 minutes in front of a group of her peers._

_Gigi fake gasped as she poured two shots from a bottle she’d swiped from the bar before she came back to check on the girl, “More than junior prom? Don’t get me wrong, I knew it was bad, but not that bad.”_

_“Ha ha.” Toni deadpanned, “It doesn’t bother you?” She asked the older girl seriously, having grown close to all of the Serpents around her age in the past few months, but Gigi especially. Sweet Pea was Toni’s best friend, but Gigi was...another kind of best entirely._

_“Of course it does, Ant. But decades of toxic patriarchy doesn’t crumble in an instant you know?” Gigi told her seriously and Toni huffed, “I know, it’s just...I’d rather get the crap kicked out of me by all the girl Serpents. Separate but equal, you know?”_

_“Mmm. you lost me. I don’t know how much I want to see anything happen to that pretty face of yours. I think I’d have to hurt someone.” Toni blushed instantly. This was a thing that happened a lot now, Gigi flirting with her, and her not knowing how the hell to flirt back. She’d heard rumors that Gigi liked girls, and she herself knew that she liked girls too in some capacity because she liked Gigi… alot. Still, as close as they’d gotten, Toni had never gotten the nerve to confirm the rumors. Even if she did ask and Gigi’s answer was a ‘yes’, it didn’t mean that she liked her. Flirting, after all, didn’t have to mean anything._

_“Here. Take this shot. It’ll help. Trust me.” Gigi offered, and Toni didn’t hesitate to oblige, “To you finally becoming a Serpent and to how hot you’re going to look in your jacket.” There was that smirk again, the one that stirred up the butterflies in Toni’s stomach like no other. The only bright side to her nerves being that the butterflies had already been kicking her ass tonight so it wasn’t much of a change._

_Both girl drank their shots and Toni turned back around to the mirror, giving herself last looks. For a few moments, Gigi watched her through the mirror and tapped her index finger nervously on her thigh, a sort of involuntary tick of hers when she was in thought over something, “Hey Ant?”_

_“Yeah?” Toni answered and turned around._

_“Would it help if...if I asked you to focus on me while you’re up there? Just dance like you’re dancing for me. “ Gigi proposed, and suddenly, the air in the small room felt thicker somehow. What was she implying exactly? The statement didn’t seem all that innocuous, and at the same time, this wasn’t Gigi’s usual brand of flirty. The older girl’s eyes were on her, practically burning a hole through her so intense that Toni stood up just to break the eye contact, “I could do that...if you want me to.”_

_“I do...but only if you want to.” It didn’t feel like they were just talking about the dance anymore, “Come here.” She asked Toni gently and held her hand out, which the soon to be Serpent obliged and took. Gently, Gigi turned Toni around so the girl’s back was to her front, and she moved Toni’s brown locks from one side of her shoulder to the other. From where they stood, they could both see their reflections in the vanity mirror and Gigi used her phone to play ‘Earned It’ by The Weekend. “Go ahead.” Gigi softly urged._

_Toni’s hips started to move from left to right, in time with the slow beat of the music. Gigi’s eyes didn’t leave Toni’s through the mirror, both girls’ pulse pounding harder than it had been before, both nervous, but both moving towards whatever they were doing with no foreseeable intentions to stop. As the chorus approached, Gigi’s hands hovered just so over Toni’s hips, then held them altogether. Toni blushed, but encouraged the action and folded her hand on top of the Serpent’s._

_Briefly, Toni let her eyes slip closed and let herself get lost in the feeling of whatever moment was carrying the two of them right now. Maybe it was the fact that underneath her robe she was in lingerie, lace and far sexier than anything she’d worn before. Or maybe it was the fact that she was basically giving one of her best friends and crush a lap dance, or maybe it was the shot she’d drank, but whatever the reason was, Toni’s next move was to snake one of her hands behind Gig’s head while she turned her own back until she could look at her friend with her own eyes and not through the reflection of the mirror, “Gigi…” The taller girl could feel her name on her lips as Toni’s were so close that her breath tickled them, “What are you thi--” Toni’s words were cut off by Gigi’s lips,in a hungry yet slow paced kiss. Toni’s hand balled up around a fist full of Gigi’s hair as she indulged in her first real kiss then a pounding on the door sent them jumping away from each other. Quickly, Gigi cut the song off and she heard FP’s voice, I’m taking the fellas out back, it’ll take about 5 minutes to clear out. Nobody over 18 is gonna be in the bar so make sure nobody does anything stupid.” FP let the girls know, “And Toni, can’t wait to have you in our ranks officially.” With that, he left. FP, it seemed, wasn’t all that comfortable with the tradition himself._

_“I guess it’s showtime.” Gigi offered and took Toni’s hand, letting it hang loosely between their bodies while her thumb ran over the back of Toni’s hand, “I think I might have wanted to do that since I met you, for the record. I’ll see you out there. I’ll be the one in the front row falling for the girl on stage.” Gigi kissed the back of her hand and left after that._

_That night, Toni became a Serpent and somebody’s girlfriend._

_________________________________________________________________________________

Toni would be lying if she said that she hadn’t dreamt of a day where Gigi would tell her that she’d fucked up and that Toni was the girl she loved and that she wanted her back because she’s literally had actual dreams about that very thing. There were guys and girls since who had captured Toni’s attention, and that was no secret, but none who she was drawn to enough that Gigi was far from her mind. Until she got to know Cheryl Blossom.

Toni ran a frustrated hand through pink highlighted hair, “Even if she did let’s get one thing straight, Cheryl Blossom. I have a choice and I’m choosing you every time. I’m not shocked that you’re the jealous type, but I need you to not do this thing. The schemes and the running around behind my back, the lying? I can’t deal with that. If you thought that, you could have told me. Relationships don’t work if you don’t talk, and I want us to work. I like you so much...even when you annoy the shit out of me like right now, all I want to do is kiss all of the doubt away.” The corners of Toni’s mouth upturned into a small smile. She could feel Cheryl’s anxiety coming off of her in waves, and though she was still pretty pissed, she found herself unable to hold on to that anger for too long because part of her knew where Cheryl was coming from, and while the execution was terrible, she understood the motive behind it.   
_________________________________________________________________________________

_“Is this real?” Toni asked in awe, laying in Gigi’s arms in the back seat of the latter’s old Jeep. Gigi held up a piece of paper, an acceptance letter to The University of Texas: Austin._

_“Yeah, it’s real you goober. Aren’t you happy for me?” Gigi asked, brimming with excitement._

_Toni bit her bottom lip in worry. She was happy for Gigi, she really was. She’d helped her girlfriend study for the SAT’s and write her personal essay, she wanted this for Gigi, but now that it was real, she couldn’t help but think about the fact that the distance between Texas and Riverdale might as well had been the distance between Riverdale and Mars. “Of course I’m happy for you, but…”_

_“Butt?...are we talking about yours or mine? Because I love my ass, but yours? A work of art.” Gigi pinched Toni’s ass, and caused the younger Serpent to to jump slightly and laugh, but she knew what Toni was thinking about, she’d thought about it too. “Or are you thinking about the distance?”_

_Toni gave a silent confirmation and nodded._

_“It is going to absolutely suck not getting to see you every day, no doubt in my mind. That’s the bad news. But the good news is, there’s no doubt in my mind that I am going to call you every day and miss you every day. And once I have a good handle on school, I’ll get a job, save to get you a plane ticket and we’ll make this work.” Gigi gave Toni a reassuring squeeze, “I love you, Ant. You’re my soulmate. And when you graduate high school, you can get into UT no problem I’m sure. Then we’ll get an apartment together, you’ll automatically be the coolest freshman, and we start our lives together for real, you and me.”_

_By the end of Gigi’s pitch, Toni was sold hook, line, and sinker. She still didn’t want to see Gigi go, but now she was actually anxious for that plan to come into fruition, no doubt in her mind that Gigi meant what she was saying. Which made it all the more devastating later down the line when she got hit with the harsh reality that none of that would ever be happening._

___________________________________________________________________________

Toni took a deep breath in and out and Cheryl watched her carefully; it didn’t quite feel like they were out of the woods yet, but it felt like maybe they were close, “Fuck it. Let’s go for broke here.” Toni planted herself in the middle of Cheryl’s floor, and crossed her legs. When she saw the redhead wasn’t moving and just watching her, she gave her an expectant look, 

“You want me to come down there? On the floor? In this room with perfectly good chairs and a bed?” Cheryl asked, but Toni didn’t have to say anything to convince her more, she was already on her way and sat across from her girlfriend, close enough that their knees touched, “Are we going to meditate?” She asked Toni, confused. 

“No. We’re not leaving this spot until we have a 100% understanding of what’s happening right now. People get hurt when they’re not on the same page. I don’t want to get hurt and I don’t want you getting hurt so let’s just figure this shit out. I’ll start. Gigi broke my heart. I told you that and I told you how, but I’ve dealt with that, and I’m not saying I’m 100% healed, but I am not stuck in the past, Cheryl. Thinking about her gets me heated because I lost all of the respect I had for her, not because I’m holding some kind of torch for her. Forgiveness is hard, especially for me.” 

____________________________________________________________________________

_Tonight was bittersweet; it was Gigi’s last night in town and the night of her going away party and Toni was determined to make it a night to remember and give her girlfriend enough good memories to last her until the next time they could see each other again. Of course, the party was at the Whyte Wyrm, but Toni had just gotten her license and Gigi had been pushing for Toni to pick her up all day, and Toni thought nothing of doing it figuring that her girlfriend intended on getting beyond wasted that night. None of the Serpents really locked the doors to their trailers, because it was pretty much a community open door policy, so Toni thought nothing of letting herself into Gigi’s place._

_Before she saw anything, Toni heard something -- giggles and soft moans, not all of them sounding like Gigi’s and the younger Serpent followed the noises back to Gigi’s room. She didn’t need to open the door as it was ajar and she could see just fine her girlfriend going at it with some girl who she’d never even seen before._

_“Fuck you.” Toni let out almost simultaneously with a deep, guttural sob. She turned, with tears already coming down her eyes, intent on leaving the trailer as fast as possible._

_“Toni, wait!” Gigi called out behind her, and caught up with Toni as she neared the front door, grabbing her arm “I’m sorry, Ant. I didn’t mean---”_

_“You didn’t mean? For fucks sake, you asked me to pick y---” Suddenly, it dawned on Toni exactly what was happening, “You wanted me to see...so I could break up with you, is that it?”_

_Gigi’s eyes softened, but she said nothing, only casted her gaze down. The cheating hurt, Toni didn’t think she’d ever be able to scrub the sight of the girl she loved with someone else out of her brain, but that revelation was even worse, it was like pouring salt and vinegar into a fresh wound._

_“Wow…” Toni ripped her arm away from her now ex girlfriend, rightfully taking Gigi’s silence as confirmation. Her tears dried up then, almost instantly. She was still hurt beyond belief and she was sure they’d come back later, but Toni had decided that Gigi didn’t deserve to see her cry, “You’re a goddamn coward. But here you go, my gift to you: consider yourself broken up with. Go to hell, Gigi.”_

_______________________________________________________________________________

“I’m sorry. I took it too far. Again.” Cheryl shook her head slightly, a lone tear falling from her eye, that she wiped away immediately, “I don’t want to play the dead brother card or the terrible parents card, but you are one of the very finite good things in my life and when I felt that being threatened, I just needed to do something to try and protect it. I really like you too. Like really really really like you. JJ is the only person whose happiness I cared about above my own before I met you.” 

Toni reached out and put her hand on top of Cheryl, and the redhead turned it around so they were holding hands, “Cher, I want us to work. But this is how it works, us talking, not you playing totally spies with Betty and Veronica. Trust me. Hell, trust that this thing between us isn’t going to implode, I want this to work just as much as you do.” 

Cheryl sighed and leaned forward, Toni doing the same, the two meeting in the middle for a slow kiss, still holding hands. “I’m sorry I stalked and harassed your ex.” Cheryl apologized and actually meant it. Not that she’d admit that to Betty or Veronica, but in the sanctuary of her safe space with Toni, she could own up to it. 

“I’m sorry, you had to use Betty and Veronica as back up on a scheme when you have the greatest mastermind as a girlfriend. Just sayin’.” Toni bit back a grin and brushed her shoulder off. 

“In that case, next time I know where to go. A Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz team up does sound pretty epic.” The redhead mused then leaned in for another kiss, this one quicker and more chaste than their last. 

“Babe,” Toni started then leaned in for yet another quick kiss, “--it would be sensational.”


End file.
